The Beast Stirs

And chaos reigns.

3rd Day of Deepwinter, 1392

Author: Tarren Dollum

19

JAN/15

Sorry to report, but the kid kicked the bucket. Not sure how he went down, but I found this book in a pack of his belongings that we had piled together along with some trophies of our victory over Ostegrath. Interesting piece he wrote on our company. I’ve always been a sucker for history, so maybe I can build on the message of the Order of the Phoenix. The name is Tarren Dollum, and this is the story of our company.

Plain and simple, we make money, and we do a damn good job to earn it. Unlike most of these other rabbles that call themselves companies, we look out for our brethren and don’t double cross them for the sake of earning more coin. Beyond that, those that make it through our initiation are considered family, and nothing is stronger than that bond that we all share. Corfer was right in saying that we are honorable people. At the heart of our vows, we pledge ourselves to act in good faith and protect our fellow man from the evils of our time. If a contract’s terms put us in a position to where we are not following our ideals, we have no problem walking out on it no matter what the cost.

Don’t get me wrong though, we have our fair share of men who blur between the lines. Our name itself is more or less ironic. Order – we all share the common disgust for Lords who suppress his people in the name of “order.” That’s one of the benefits of being a Free Company of the Sword Coast, we serve no one other than the name on our contract, and even that has finite terms.

After some heavy loses bringing down Ostegrath, we’ve managed to pull in a good batch of new recruits. Calek, Captain of the Order, is laying the groundwork to promote even greater posterity for our company. Many of our new kin are experts in their respective crafts and are teaching the rest of us the tricks of their trade. Until now, we haven’t been the most resourceful when it comes to acquiring our goods – at least for those of us that follow legal means of procurement. It will be nice to have a near limitless supply of arrows to fill my quiver.

Calek says he wants to build a stockpile good enough for a two month siege. I don’t know where or when he plans to hunker down for that, but I hope we’re on the side with comfy beds and pillows and not on the side with mud caked up between our toes for tendays on end.